Elections & Campaigns
State Elections to Watch Closely Tonight
November 3, 2026 | Bill Kramer
Thirty-six gubernatorial races are on the ballot today, with 11 highly competitive contests and another 10 mildly competitive races, making this one of the most competitive cycles in recent years. Democrats need to flip just one seat in Minnesota's tied House and four seats in Michigan's House to regain the trifectas they won in 2022 but lost in 2024, while Arizona and Pennsylvania chambers remain tougher targets requiring three to four seat flips. Twenty-two state legislatures currently hold veto-proof supermajorities, with Democrats needing to flip only one seat in North Carolina and Florida to protect gubernatorial vetoes in those states. Voters will decide on 145 statewide ballot measures today, including procedural measures in Missouri and Montana that would make initiative systems a fundamental right and Alaska's decision on whether to keep ranked-choice voting. Predictions for state legislative seat pickups range from 400 to 500 for Democrats, with anything below the 307 seats they gained in 2018 considered a relative win for Republicans.
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